There are around thirty works by Félicien Rops covering the width of his oeuvre. His career commenced as an illustrator of the publication L’Uylenspiegel, which he himself set up. Here he published artistic, political and social caricatures in lithography. Like Goya, Rops defended freedom of speech and strived against the moral rigidity of the bourgeoisie and the clergy. He cherished the fact that he was unknown and did not wish to become famous.
Félicien Rops - Pornocratès
FÉLICIEN ROPS
1833
Born 7 July. Remains an only child. Father is a well-to-do industrialist.
1849
Death of father.
1851
Enrols to study Law at Université Libre in Brussels. Turns out to be a successful caricaturist.
1856
A substantial inheritance from his father enables him to establish the magazine L’Uylenspiegel. Marries the following year.
1864
Meets Charles Baudelaire with whom he maintains a lasting bond.
1868
Starts a relationship with the sisters Aurélie and Leontine Duluc from Paris.
1874
Moves to Paris and becomes highest paid illustrator in the city.
1878
A high point in his artistic career: creation of Pornocrates en La Tentation de Saint Antoine.
1886
Pornocrates causes a scandal at the exhibition organised around the XX Group (Les Vingts). Beginning of his friendship with Armand Rassenfosse.
1898
After having lived in Demi-Lune since 1892, his house in Essonnes near Paris, he dies on 23 August. Had received Legion d’Honneur earlier in the year.
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